As mentioned, Persian is the final element in the ‘three tongues’ system that constitutes the languages of Ottoman culture, and it was taught in the modern schools established by Muhammad ‘Ali using the same books as in Istanbul. The first book to be printed in Egypt, as an extension of that tradition, was the grammar book compiled by Darendevi Hayret Effendi1 under the title Mefatih el-durriye risalesi (Treatise on the Pearly Keys) of which the first printing appeared in 1242/1826 in the same volume as a Turkish-Arabic-Persian dictionary in verse entitled Tuhfe-i cevher-ayar-i tig zeban by the same author.
The second printing of both books appeared in 1255/1839. Another important dictionary belonging to this group was the Persian-Turkish Tuhfe-i Vehbi (Vehbi’s Rhyming Dictionary) by Sunbulzade Vehbi, consisting of fifty-eight pieces of quatrain, which was completed in 1282 and printed almost fifty times in Istanbul. In Egypt, the same dictionary was printed nine times between 1245/1830 and 1282/1865-66. In 1205/1791, during Sunbulzade Vehbi’s lifetime, the Ottoman scholar Ahmed Hayati Effendi (d. 1229/1814) wrote a book called §erh el-Tuhfe el-manzume el-durriye fi lugat el-Farisiye el-Deriye (Commentary on the Persian Rhyming Dictionary), which became known as §erh-i Tuhfe-i Vehbi (The Commentary on Vehbi S Rhyming Dictionary), and dedicated it to the grand vizier of the day, Koca Yusuf Pasha. The work was printed eight times in Istanbul between 1215/1800 and 1266/1856 and twice in Egypt, in 1254/1838-39 and 1271/1855.
The Persian dictionary Burhan-i qati ‘ (The Indisputable Proof), written by Muhammad Hoseyn b. Khalaf-e Tabrizi (d. 1692) and subsequently translated into Turkish by Ahmed Asim Effendi (d. 1819)2 under the title Burhan-i kdti ‘ tercumesi (The Translation of The Indisputable Proof), is without doubt the most important of the dictionaries printed in Egypt after the above. Ahmed Asim started on the translation two years after arriving in Istanbul and completed it in six years, presenting it to Sultan Selim III in 1797. The first printing occurred in Istanbul at the order of the sultan in 1214/1799. In Egypt it was printed twice, in 1251/1835 and 1268/1852, at the Bulaq Press.
After this date, the printing of Persian-language teaching books ceased for a period in Egypt. The printing of Talim el-Farisi (The Teaching of Persian) and Farisi tekellum risalesi (Treatise on Spoken Persian) in 1266/1849-50 is an indicator that Persian too was by then being taught according to modern principles and was a part of the change that had taken place in education in Egypt. A treatise on learning Persian by a simplified method, under the title Talim el-Farisi, was written by Kemal Effendi (later Pasha), the minister of education who opened the ru§diye schools elsewhere in the Ottoman territories. It received its second printing in Egypt in 1281/1864-65 at Madaris Press, though the first edition of each book appeared in Istanbul. Farisi kavaidi (Persian Grammar) was printed during the reign of Khedive Tawfiq in 1300/1883. It was the last of its kind and no further books in Turkish on the rules of Persian were printed.
The dictionary known as Kitab-i Tercuman fi el-lugat el-Farisiye ve el-Turkiye ve el-Arabiye (The Dragoman on the Persian, Turkish, and Arabic Languages), printed in Egypt in 1274/1858, was the last textbook to cover all the ‘three tongues’ together.
World History
